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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Be Fit for Summer Contest...the one where we didn't think anyone was going to enter


Man, i wish it were that easy!
I mean, howabout if scientist could invent a magic weight loss pill so we wouldn't have to rely on willpower anymore! Honestly, they can put a man on the moon, but they can't invent a fried chicken or chocolate malt that melts fat on your thighs!

This is what i looked like when i first started here at B93.3 last July. I had lost over 30 pounds on LA Weight Loss (204 pounds and got down to 169) and kept it off!...Until the last couple of months when i slowly allowed the bad habits that got me to 204 creep back in again; Here's how it happened...i went back to school fulltime and i was working here at B93.3 (that's right, blame the radio station) and instead of using the common sense that LA Weight Loss had taught me, i slowly introduced the bad habits that had originally gotten me to 204 pounds in the first place! (If i stop at McDonalds and have a couple of fries or drink Coke instead of Diet Coke, whose it going to hurt?)

I have never been more disgusted with myself! After all that hard work, it only took a couple of months (no lie) to put that weight on and the only one i have to blame...is me!

I don't know about you, but i'm getting sick of radio jocks-including ME-telling you how great a diet is...as if that should inspire you, especially if you followed my last journey through the weight loss jungle...after all, wasn't i the jock who told you how great Metabolife was? (I was and it was until it was deemed unsafe and taken off the market) If i'm going to do a very public diet on the radio, the least i can do is give you a chance to join me! And because LA Weight Loss taught me how to eat, and how to lose weight eating real food, they were the people we (B93.3 and me) approached with this idea; How about a contest where people could write in 93 words or less why they would like to challenge me in a BE FIT FOR SUMMER CONTEST...easy right?
WRONG!
We had 162 entries, (after the doubles/duplicates were taken out) and every single one of them, heartfelt, heartbreaking, and honest. And i related to each and everyone of them! I knew i was in trouble and i called in the promotions staff, and coworkers (six of us, including me, all who were either fighting the battle of the bulge, or had won the battle). I want you to know that each and every one of your 162 entries were read, and argued about. The first 100 eliminations were somewhat the easiest because of health problems (some of you are battling cancer and heart failure and i honestly think that you have a hard enough battle to worry about without adding a public weight loss challenge on your plate!-you are also in our prayers)

The next 50 entries were the worst! Honestly, you all should have won, but we only had three slots. Now the real arguments began, and we all had our favorite entries and people we felt should win. I had about 15 i was pushing for, and so did everyone else. We then cut the entries down to 20, and then 10, and finally to 5 listeners, and we still couldn't agree. I can tell you now, that when we announced this contest last week, my promotions boss and myself thought we'd be lucky if we got 5 entries! Our LA WEIGHT Loss contest ended at midnight, March 30th and by 6 pm last night (March 31) we still didn't have a clear winner!
Want to know why it took so long to announce a winner today? We still weren't sure on the last winner...

Finally, this afternoon (at 5:15) we had our three challengers;
1. Renee Clark of Milwaukee who told us about being a 6th grade teacher (who gets taunted by some of her kids because of her weight-she was our clear cut favorite)... 2. Gregory Castle who owns a bakery and is facing a 50th birthday this summer, and 3. Lynne Litzenberg whose weight battle began nine years ago after she quit smoking and switched to food, who was worried about how her bad food habits have transferred to her 3 sons (one who is graduating this year and she was terrified at the thought of being in pictures with him), and was also worried about a 25th high school reunion (motivation).

Were they the most deserving winners? I think that's impossible to say for sure, because this was such a subjective contest. I even eliminated two very dear friends of mine that i know personally (i love you DawnEllen and i will call you this week), and have witnessed their battle with their weight (and who i knew were worthy)because i was over-ruled; Angela of West Allis, for instance, she just turned 40 with enough stress on her to cause a heart attack (she has a son in Iraq), Paula of Muskego who i'm probably gonna call up and exchange recipes with, (or maybe email, i don't want to bother you during dinner), Kelly of Waukesha you are "one sassy-you know" and have exactly the same challenges as me...lets do coffee soon...Kate of Franklin whose trying to get in shape with her husband and Kathy from Milwaukee who wants to go from a 14 to a 4 or 6...trust me, you can and if you need a walking partner i'll find a way to make that happen...Debbie K of Greendale who was munching jellybeans while driving home from work...you should have your own blog! I LOVED your entry, but i was over-ruled...Amanda of Milwaukee has a fiance in Iraq that wants to look good for her upcoming wedding-God bless you and i hope you and your husband-to-be have a long and wonderful life together...i loved loved loved an email from a listener who told me how she cheated on her honey with her lover Haag N Daaz-you were in the top 5(!)...and a very inspiring email from
Susan Duvall of Wauwatosa: Turning 60 in April, i need to lose at least 40 pounds. I went back to college at age 56 and am now a fully licensed Registered Nurse. I have shown perseverance and dedication to achieve one of my life's dreams and losing this excess weight would be the other. Help me achieve this new goal/dream for beginning my 6th decade.


Some of your emails were heartbreaking and incredibly inspiring and much too personal to share here but i will email you to see how i can be of help.

All i can say is we tried to make the best decisions possible, and to thank you so much your entries.

Cindy Huber
April 1, 2008

Love in the 90's


This is my grandpa George Huber and his new bride and my new grandma taken on their wedding day last August. My grandpa is 92, and my new grandma a much younger woman, 85. Aren't they adorable? Young love is so overrated!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Why Easter is my favorite holiday


I love Easter, i really do, and it's not because of the chocolate's or candies because if that was the case, Valentine's Day would have Easter beat. (Maybe it has something to do with the fact that i feel guilty biting off the head of a chocolate bunny, but no such guilt when it comes to biting off Santa's head-he knows when you are sleeping, oh yeah(?) Not without your head Santa!)

No, i love Easter because of the promise it holds, victory over death, and the promise of something "out there" and to me that means the promise of seeing my loved ones again. You know, the family members that have left the building, like Elvis... And i hope you know that i have no intentions on getting all preachy on you, honestly, i'm the last person who has the answers to, well, anything though i'm always happy to share my opinion...but i'd like to think that that has more to do with me being a female!
Honestly, we have a staffer here who doesn't believe in life after death (although she does believe in ghosts!-go figure) and i love her dearly. She always wants to argue about how impossible it is to believe in Adam and Eve, and the flood, heaven and hell and stuff like that, and i say it doesn't really matter if neither of us can or cannot explain it because when it comes right down to it, you either can believe in something, or not, and i prefer to believe in something.
It's called faith, and it takes faith to believe in something, or faith to believe in nothing...but anyway, i like the hope that i will see my loved ones someday because the alternative is not something i want to believe in...and that is why Easter is my favorite holiday. (well, that and the peeps)

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Jesus take the wheel

You know how mommy's cry when their kids go off to grade school the first time? The daddy's usually cry the first time their kid comes home with a brand spankin new drivers license!

This is my little boy Mike. I was just walking him to first grade yesterday and now he has the keys to my car.
Exactly one week ago he conned some driving test instructer into issuing him a license...at least that's how i saw it. He did get some points taken off for not looking over his shoulder during a lane change, but that was it! I told him it might have been a few points for him, but in real life that could have been a car accident! He rolled his eyes and told me to lighten up, and that nothing was gonna happen to him. Which is what i believe i told my dad some, um, years ago...that was a few hours before i was grounded off the car for a month for running a red light. That's right, yours truly didn't even have her drivers license for 24 hours before she ran a red light with her daddy riding shotgun! Yep, this broad had balls! About a year later i plowed my daddys 78 Buick (big giant boat cars!) into the back of a sheriffs car. It was my first time to hit a patch of ice and i did what any teenager who has never driven in the winter did...i panicked and slammed the brakes. This was a long time ago when dinosaurs ruled the land and antilock car brakes hadn't been invented yet...wouldn't mattered...the sheriff was very kind considering that it was my first time, and although there would be a few more accidents, you always remember your first time!


This is my stepson Seth, who passed his drivers test 2 days ago...that's right, 2 teenage boys with a license in 2 weeks...as you might imagine our rates have instantly doubled along with this brand new ulcer i just developed! (Brought about by fear and stress of course) The boys think i'm being silly and can't imagine what i have to worry about! I think back to my youngest brother Doug, who got so many speeding tickets one year that my dad made him become a race car driver and sponsored him in amateur racing in Clear Lake, Iowa! My brother was actually very good but unfortunately his pit crew was always drunk so his race car driving career never took off! As for me, my nickname was speed queen in high school--and not because i was doing drugs-but because i once (ok, maybe twice) raced a couple of guys in my dads Buick boat doing 100mph! (oh, and yes i did win) Then about a month later i got busted in a "speed trap" doing 11 miles over the speed limit and was so upset by the (30! dollar bill) that i stopped speeding...(technically, as i only go the same pace everyone else is--and yes, i will use that as my legal defense, officer)


Here's my future race...er...driver...Jesus, take their wheels!
I called my dad the other day and asked him how he survived our driving, and he "are you kidding, he's still worried!"

Tim's Awake

Who needs a groundhog to "guess" how many weeks before spring when a turtle waking up from hibernation confirms it?
This is Tim and oh my goodness, is he posing?! Tim use to be my son's but, well, i'm the one who buys him his fresh lettuce, carrots, and crickets, and i'm the one who took him to the vet when he got an ear infection...(turtles have ears--who knew?!) The vet bill was over 70 bucks but it was worth it just for that knowledge! And the added information that Tim could last for up to another 70 years was icing on the cake! That means Tim and me could both be sharing a room in a nursing home some 70 years from now...man, i hope i die first!
But honestly, i have really come to love this turtle even if i'm the only one in the house who gets all excited when he wakes up from his long winter nap, (turtles hibernate for 6-7 weeks at a time during the winter) because that means he senses spring!!! (Or he wants to mate, or she wants to mate...i guess i should have asked what sex he/she was the last time i had Tim in there--maybe the next time i have an extra 70 bucks...)

Signs that Spring is coming....

I saw the first bud of spring yesterday, it was a budweiser can sticking out of the snow on my neighbors lawn!!! Yippee!!! Of course, with yet another winter storm watch hanging over our heads you've got find hope wherever you can.

Here's a reassuring sight, the proof that winter is slowly losing her grip, because my lilac bush is budding. Welcome back shrubs!

Then again, my husband and Max don't care either way!

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

People give up, but hamsters NEVER give up

For HAMSTER FANS ONLY!
This is the first video that i have ever attached to my blog, because, well, number one, i didn't know how, but number two, there never was a good enough reason to for me, til now. It's not just because i had a hamster growing up...didn't everyone in the 70's? It's because in watching this video, i was struck by the fact, that unlike myself...that hamster is going to keep working on achieving his goal, until he accomplishes it...which in his case, is getting through a door! Of course, for Mr. Hamster's sake i can only hope there isn't some big, fat cat on the other side waiting for him!
Persistent Hamster
Persistent Hamster

Like i said, it's a video that anyone that ever had a hamster will appreciate...sorry that you have to sit through the 30 second commercial that precedes it...but as a kid who had something like 100 hamsters...(we always started out with two hamsters...but as anyone who ever had a hamster...there is no such thing as TWO HAMSTERS ever because those babies mate...well, like rabbits) and pretty soon the house is swimming in hamsters...although if you have a hamster like the one in the video, and a cat like we had...well, God forbid if the hamster figured a way out of it's cage! Which he or she would do eventually, because, well, they never give up! It's kind of weird, as i was watching the video and thinking about every hamster i ever knew, it occurred to me that i would have been more successful in life if i had been less human, and more hamster...then again, knowing my luck, there probably would have been a cat waiting for me on the other end.